A Shinobi's Sins
by RurikoTsukuyomi
Summary: REWRITTEN VERSION OF SHADOWS OF HEROES. The destines and lives of all the world's ninjas are changing and for better or for worse, no one knows as the pieces of the puzzle are slowly placed together. Rated to be safe.
1. Chapter 1

**Welcome to the rewritten version of **_**Shadows of Heroes**_**, now called **_**A Shinobi's Sins.**_** I will be using the same characters, maybe more or less (:**

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO. MASASHI KISHIMOTO DOES. I do, however, own:**

**Tsukuyomi Clan**

**Nero**

**Hajin**

**Ayano**

**Zoki**

****

Chapter One: **Chuunin Selection Examinations! The Tail.**

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_SHING!_

_Thump!_

A pair of black ninja boots hit the ground, a steel sharpened heel dripping with fresh, dripping blood as a body hit the ground beside them, more of the dark liquid pooling around them.

"Well," Muttered a metallic and hard voice, "That was much more… Vicious than I would have liked it to be." The speaker raised a pair of smoky gray eyes to stare across the familiar lit up village of Konohagakure. His silver ponytail flipped back him as a gust of spring wind curled through the air, ruffling his short-sleeved black shirt, the tall collar partially opened. A pair of navy pants were stuffed into his tall, armored boots, an Amegakure headband on a dark sash over his shoulder where weapons were lined up and ready for more attacks.

A magenta-haired woman came to step up beside him, the only two long strands near her face billowing as a white Amegakure headband went over her eyes. A deep violet, skintight off-the-shoulder elbow-length top with a snow white cloth tied around her waist, the ends hanging before her long legs, matching a pair of white shorts that led to bandages then to a pair of purple ninja shoes made up her attire.

"Daiki-sama," She murmured, her tone dull, "You should do well to clean up your mess, unless you wish to send the staff of Konohagakure a message that you are here." Said man felt a smirk curl the corners of his lips into an almost devious smile.

"That's the idea," He responded, earning a sideways turn from the woman, "What's the fun in infiltrating if you don't have a little chase going on?"

"You're making this harder on those of us who do not want to fight." The woman responded, just as calmly as she cocked her head. Daiki chuckled.

"Miyuki, I'm sure Botan will do your share of the fighting if you wish to conserve energy… Isn't that right, Botan? … Botan." Daiki and Miyuki turned partially around to see a man bent over one of the corpses. His plum colored hood was pulled up over his head, the long aqua colored sleeves of said hoodie pulled up to his elbows, his black pants with the odd purple designs swirled onto them stained with blood.

The sound of bones crunching and cracking followed along with an almost animalistic growling. Daiki rolled his eyes, putting a fist on his hip and whistling sharply so the man immediately squeaked and scrambled, whirling around and standing up right, a dismembered arm in his hands as his abnormally long sleeves fell back over his hands.

"Idiot," Daiki muttered, walking over and smacking the limb from Botan's hands, making the man whine softly in his throat, his snow-white eyes following the arm to the ground, "You don't know where that's been!" Botan brought his sleeves up to hide his bloodied mouth, squeezing his eyes shut in apology. Daiki rolled his eyes and turned to face Miyuki, who was facing the situation with a bored expression.

"Come, we don't have much time before the midnight patrol comes around to check on things… Our guests will also be arriving soon as well…"

**SKIPSKIPPITYSKIPSKIP**

_KUH-THUNK_

_Gotta move faster! He's catching up!_ A thirteen-year-old female Genin shot through the trees, her raven, waist-length ponytail flipping behind her as her pale lavender eyes narrowed in concentration as she moved, a kunai tightly gripped in her gloved hand as she pushed off another tree branch. Her orchid skort swirled around her thighs over a pair of tight knee-length black shorts as she ducked a tree branch as well as a kunai that was flying at her from behind.

She whipped around and swung the kunai forward, doing a flip and landing quickly on a tree branch as she began to weave a stream of rapid hand signs, thrusting a hand outwards to create a large spider-web of electrical bolts. They screeched through the air, shooting through tree trunks and knocking branches through the air.

She paused, her eyes scanning as she slowly lowered her smoking hand. She stood up straight, putting a hand on her hip. She closed her eyes and was about ready to do a flip to land on the ground when she felt something that made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up, her eyes widening now. A hot breath that sent chills up and down her spine, goose bumps flying over her skin. However, instead of reacting in alarm, she twitched and her expression became a comical look of annoyance, a vein pounding in her forehead.

"You pervert!" She declared and whirled around, hoping to aim her fist into the gut of the boy behind her, but he easily leapt a couple feet away, a rakish smirk spreading across his face. His cool gray hair seemed to ruffle lightly with the spring breeze, his aqua green eyes almost glowing with pleasure.

He wore a black cloak with a maroon fringe with sleeves that were short and shredded, matching gray pants with dark purple flames creeping up the legs. Bandages wrapped all around his right arm to the elbow and on the opposite arm was a chain decorate; two black cuffs, one on his elbow and one on his wrist with a chain link in between. Maroon ninja shoes finished off his clothes and an unmistakably heavy maul was strapped to his back.

"I couldn't resist. You were occupied, so it was the best chance, but you turned around too soon." He added with a dramatic sigh, averting his eyes.

"We're training here, dunderhead! You can do your peeping when we get to the- Wait… If you're here, who did I…? Oh crap." The Genin whipped around and shot toward the area where her jutsu had basically slaughtered the forest. She looked around quickly and spotted her second teammate, also her brother.

The older boy was lying on his back, twitching rather comically so his periwinkle eyes were lined with tears, his raven ponytail crooked now while his headband was even more crooked than before. His gray hooded sweatshirt with short sleeves, that hung off his shoulders, was torn as well as his khaki shorts. The only thing that seemed unharmed was the fishnet shirt under his sweatshirt and the black glove things that came to about the middle of his palms, having no actual finger portions.

"Jeez, Ruriko! You could've killed me!" He whined at last and threw himself up into a sitting position, adjusting his headband only slightly, strands of hair sticking up behind his headband and over to hang in front of it.

"Well, blame it on, Nero! He basically used you to get to me…" Ruriko muttered dryly, folding her arms over her chest and turning her face away, her nose in the air. Nero didn't seem at all disturbed by this fact and merely looked at Ruriko with a flat expression, then turned to his male teammate, holding a hand out.

"Come on, get up, Akira. Sensei's probably wondering where we are. We were supposed to meet him, like, ten minutes ago at that ramen shop." He stated. Akira blinked and took Nero's hand, pulling himself up to his feet. He brushed himself off and sighed."All right then. Oh well! I'm hungry anyway! You think he'll treat us this time?" He asked eagerly, clenching his fists and pumping them excitedly. Nero sweat dropped and Ruriko unfolded her arms to turn to them.

"Probably. If we told him we were training hard." She added with a lazy shrug. Nero rolled his eyes as the statement was most certainly a lie. For the two hours their sensei had given them to train, they only trained half the time. The other half of the time was getting Ruriko off her butt to do it.

The trio turned and shot off out of the forest at the training grounds, emerging into the field that was nestled between the forest and a crystal blue river, a large black stone erected near a flag pole that stood high above it. However, walking out onto the field, the trio wasn't the only ones taking time to train in the village. Another trio was sitting near the river's edge.

The first boy, he definitely looked more like a leader than a follower, was rather short and thin with slicked back, midnight hair, a few loose locks hanging into his face between his pinkish red eyes that seemed to be watching the other team closely. He only wore a pair of loose, baggy black jeans with belts hanging off the sides. His chest was tattooed dramatically with a large spider web, a black widow tattoo creeping across.

The other two were twins, no doubt, with fire red hair and mismatched blue and green eyes. One was a female, wearing a simple blue tube top with gold bands around her biceps and one around her neck along with black trousers to match her shoes. Her twin, a boy, wore a black, low-cut t-shirt with a fishnet sleeves and dark red pants.

"Oi," The first boy called, making Akira jump and Ruriko scowl at him for it, "You three entering the Chuunin Exams?" Ruriko frowned, folding her arms over her chest and Akira merely beamed.

"What's it to you?" Ruriko demanded. Akira sweat dropped, looking down at her.

"Ruriko, you don't have to be rude."

"He was rude for asking." Ruriko responded flatly, then looked over to see the team stand up from their lunch. The first one, most certainly very short and probably looked like he was ten and not twelve or thirteen, walked over, smirking rather cockily.

"What a bite you have. That's cute. What're your names?" He asked. Ruriko felt her body grow tense with annoyance. She hated that. Why would someone call a shinobi cute? It was completely idiotic!

"It's common courtesy to introduce yourselves first, jerk." She retorted.

"Ruriko!" Akira whined, but he didn't bother trying to stop her as Nero gave him a warning look. Ruriko stood her ground, her lavender eyes watching this new team intently. Judging by their headbands, they were definitely from Amegakure. However, the think that was making Ruriko's heart pound was the disgusting spider tattoos. She could just feel the hairs on her arms standing up.

"Hajin, doll face. These are my teammates, Ayano and Zoki." He responded, completely unfazed by the insult as he gestured to his teammates, giving his fingers an odd flicks. His teammates merely nodded their heads, but they're facial expressions remained stony and blank. Ruriko blinked, then twitched as she clenched a fist.

"My name's Tsukuyomi Ruriko, not doll face!" She snapped. Akira quickly put a hand on her shoulder, laughing nervously as he wave a hand at Hajin and his team.

"Ahaaa, she's kind of cranky, forgive the attitude. My name's Tsukuyomi Akira, by the way! Mr. Silent's name is Nero." He added, pointing a finger in a gun-shape at Nero, who merely looked in the complete opposite direction with a bored look. Hajin just smirked at them, then looked at Ruriko, who was glaring at Akira and waving his hand away from her.

"Interesting. You're from Sunagakure," He added, glancing at their heads before looking back at their female teammate, "This is going to be fun. I should hope you guys are ready for a big battle because if we run into you during the exams, we won't hesitate to squish you like bugs." Akira sweat dropped, averting his eyes in an expression of sarcastic thanks.

"Jeez, is everyone entertaining these exams this friendly?" He wondered along. Nero snorted indigenously, but kept silent, fishing into his pocket. Ruriko stared at Hajin for a moment, her eyes narrowed.

_Akira's got a point. A lot of Genin are joining these exams and they're all dead set on achieving their goal. They'd probably kill us to do it too… Jeez, this is gonna be a bigger hassle than I thought it would be. Akira definitely isn't ready to go around lopping heads off to become Chuunin, but I can't say the same for Nero… Of course, I'm probably the same as Akira, but for different reasons… I just don't want to waste my time._ She thought before her mouth took over.

"We'll just see about that, shrimp, because we're gonna be the ones stepping on you, so say your prayers. Come on, guys." She muttered and grabbed Akira's and Nero's arm, dragging them after her as she led the way back into the town. Hajin watched them go with his arms folded, a smirk on his face.

"Wow, Ruriko," Akira exclaimed in awe as he walked up beside his sister, who was scowling, "I didn't know you were that eager to begin Chuunin. The way you complained about it back at the village totally had me thinking you were against taking the exams."

"I am against it!" Ruriko protested. Nero cocked a brow, coming up on Ruriko's other side and making her snap her head to glare at his suspicious look.

"You sounded pretty motivated back there. If you acted like that more often, you wouldn't be nagged at as often." He pointed out as he dug something out of his cloak pocket. Ruriko opened her mouth to argue, but stopped as she recognized the cigarette Nero was placing into his mouth, lighting his lighter. She scowled.

"I thought you quit! You totally lied to sensei." She scolded. Nero shrugged as he tucked his lighter away, taking in some smoke before blowing it out into a stream, removing the cigarette from his lips to glance at her.

"If I hadn't of told him, he'd of nagged at me some more. I know how you feel now." He answered before placing the cigarette back in his mouth. Ruriko reached out and snatched it away, making Nero wince and glare at her, making a grab back for it. However, Ruriko easily held it out of his reach and smirked, about ready to throw it on the ground, but the cigarette vanished from her hand. She blinked and whipped around, ready to yell, but stopped and smirked.

"Ha!" She declared. Nero turned and as soon as he did, he was bopped rather harshly upon the head with a gloved fist. He yelped and clasped his hands onto his head tightly, cringing. Standing before the trio was a Suna Jounin wearing a chocolate brown jumpsuit under a Sand Village vest with black, heel-less ninja sandals; a shiny headband over his forehead, where deep black, with hints of bluish purple, hair hung slightly spiked toward the right, save for a single long strand to the left.

"I had a feeling you wouldn't keep your word, Nero." The Jounin sighed, folding his arms over his chest and closing his dark lavender eyes in disappointment as he dropped the cigarette to the ground.

"Kazuya!" Akira exclaimed, beaming happily at the sight of their sensei, also the eldest Tsukuyomi brother. Ruriko put a hand on her hip, gesturing a hand to Nero as she glanced at him out the corner of his eye.

"Ne, see what happens? Kazuya knows everything, Nero. You can't get away with that." She said, only earning herself a wincing glare from Nero, who removed his hands from his head to clench them as fists at his sides. Kazuya frowned down at him.

"Nero, what did I tell you about that? If you lied to me about the cigarettes, are you lying about the alcohol too? You know, those things are really bad for your health! All that crap in the cigarettes is going to turn your lungs black and that alcohol will damage your liver too-"

"And you only have one liver, so don't do that kind of sick shit," Nero finished under his breath, "You've lectured me enough."

"Obviously not if you're still doing it," Kazuya scolded, then looked at them with a raised eyebrow as he put his fists on his hips, "Where were you guys? I waited at the shop, but you didn't show up."

"We got carried away with training." Ruriko replied innocently. Kazuya laughed.

"And I'm the Kazekage," He said sarcastically, making the Genin sweat drop as they looked up at him, "Out with the truth."

"We ran into some stupid Genin," Nero began before Akira or Ruriko could say anything, "Ruriko snapped at them and she didn't use her manners by introducing herself first either." Ruriko glared at him, clenching a fist, but Kazuya dropped a hand on her head, ruffling her ponytail a little and making her grumble.

"Oh jeez," He sighed, "What the heck am I going to do with you? You've obviously been hanging out with Hioshi more than you should. You're starting to pick up that cocky attitude." Ruriko merely huffed, folding her arms over her chest stubbornly.

"Well, well, well! Tsukuyomi Kazuya, is that you?" A female's voice exclaimed in surprise, making Kazuya blink and look over. Ruriko, Akira, and Nero stood behind Kazuya, peeking around him to see a Konohagakure Jounin approach, a smile spread across her face.

Her hair was a brilliant salmon color, held up with a firefly hairclip, matching her light green eyes. She wore a thin green flak jacket with a large brown circle on the back with the kanji for luck in crème. She wore a light and tight purple top that touched her elbows, a metal plate across the front of her top bearing Konoha's symbol. Her pants were navy blue, touching her knees where black ninja sandals started.

_Kazuya actually knows an attractive girl?_ The Genin wondered with wide curious eyes as Kazuya beamed, his cheeks coloring a light pink rather evidently, giving a wave as he seemed to recognize her immediately.

"Kotori! It's been so long since I've visited. I'm surprise you recognized me." He admitted with a little shrug. The Jounin smirked, placing a hand on her hip.

"I recognized that voice anywhere, and you're right, you haven't visited in so long! You should probably make up for that." She stated. Kazuya smiled warmly.

"Then, I'll gladly treat you to Ichiraku ramen. I've heard it's very well made here."

"Sure is," Kotori answered, flashing a rather flirtatious grin, however, she finally caught sight of the three Genin taking up a line behind Kazuya, like ducklings, and it made her smirk twist a little in an almost taunting form, "Sooo, that's why you're here. You've become a sensei, hm?" Kazuya blinked, then laughed, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly.

"Oh, right! Sorry. This my Genin team," He introduced, pointing to each one as he said their names, "This is Nero, Akira, and Ruriko. These two are my siblings, Nero's a childhood friend of theirs." Kotori blinked, stooping over a little and taking her chin between her thumb and forefinger to scan them curiously.

"Well, well. Interesting team. I can see you've waited a bit to enter them into the exams. I pretty much did the same… Speaking of your siblings, eh," She made a face and stood up, folding her arms over her chest, giving Kazuya a sour look, "Where's the other one? The one who gave me this?" She pointed to a marred scar in the shape of a bite near her collarbone. Ruriko's eyes widened and she easily pushed past Akira and Nero to peer up at it.

"Oi, that's interesting, where'd you get that?"

"Hioshi," Kazuya filled in with a sweat drop, making Ruriko lean back and looking at him in obvious confusion, making Kazuya sigh and look back at Kotori with a weak smile, "Uh, Hioshi's not so much… Of a people person anymore."

"He was a people person?" Kotori asked with a cocked brow. Akira laughed, then clapped his hands over his mouth after Ruriko glared at him. Nero hid a smirk behind a cough. Kazuya smiled lightly.

"Wrong choice of words. Ever since the exams, Hioshi hasn't left our home. He took his loss hard." He answered. Kotori seemed to be biting back a confident grin and instead cocked her head.

"That so? Hm, too bad… So how about that ramen?" She asked with a wink and Kazuya beamed.

"Excellent! Lead the way. I haven't been here in so long and some things have really changed. There's definitely more people than I remember." He added as he walked along side the Jounin, who chuckled and began to go on about the village's recent events. The Genin team trailed behind.

"I can't believe she's the one who beat Hioshi," Ruriko muttered a bit stubbornly, her arms folded, "She's just a Jounin."

"So is Hioshi." Nero replied. Ruriko scowled at him.

"Hioshi's a _special_ Jounin. That's a rank above the regulars."

"Oh, big whoop. So he gets an extra word onto his rank."

"You know, sometimes I wonder why I even bother talking to you! You were so much cuter when you were little!" Ruriko retorted and turned her head away. Nero smirked.

"You thought I was cute when I was little?"

"_Thought_, as in, past tense."

"That's not very nice."

"Well, neither are you!"

"You guys argue too much," Akira huffed, waving his hands at them as he came up between them as he wore an expression of relaxed pacifism, "Calm down! You're being biased, Ruriko… And, Nero, you still are cute. Let Kazuya enjoy catching up without having you two argue in the background."

"I am not biased!" Ruriko protested. Nero sweat dropped, his eye twitching as he blushed.

"You're really good at making things awkward." He muttered and hid his face by looking down. Akira merely grinned.

"So, it wouldn't help if I said that Kotori-sensei is, like, really attractive?"

"No!" They yelled in unison and brought their fists down on Akira's head, making him yelp and hit the ground before scrambling back to his feet to catch up with the group.

"Wow," Kazuya murmured as he walked, completely ignoring the scene his Genin were making behind them, "A whole Anbu squad? When did this happen exactly?" Kotori folded one arm under the other, holding up two fingers.

"Two nights ago. The creepy part is that several bodies were basically mauled, like an animal did it. Whoever it is wasn't trying to be stealthy, they were trying to let us know that they're here and they're not messing around."

"That sounds dangerous. Does anyone else know?"

"A handful of Jounin and the Anbu Black Ops know. We're supposed to warn the sensei that come in for the exams with their students, just in case. We're also doing checks of each team that comes in. That's probably why it took you so long to get past the gates."

"It's dangerous. I'm surprised they didn't cancel the exams."

"You must be new to this whole thing, huh?"

"What do you mean?"

"You can't cancel the exams because a bunch of misfits came on a killing spree. The other villages would throw hissy fits and there'd be a huge fight. I don't think the world can take another argument over something stupid… Although, personally, I'd be more alert about the situation. We don't even know who these guys are."

"Really? Wow, you're smart, Kotori." Kazuya beamed. Kotori grinned back and gave her hair a little flip in response as they approached the ramen shop. They took a seat at the counter, taking their orders as Kazuya prepared to pay beforehand. Akira immediately dove into his bowl, slurping up his noodles while Nero ate his most slowly. Ruriko was almost finished two seconds after she got it, gobbling the noodles and gulping down the juice. Kazuya sweat dropped and looked at Kotori, who was blinking with a 'what the heck' look on her face.

"Do you starve them?" She asked. Kazuya blushed and laughed a little, averting his eyes.

"It's crossed my mind," He mumbled, then cleared his throat and looked at Kotori, who smirked, "So, uh, what about you? Do you have a team?" Kotori nodded confidently, holding up a fist to emphasis her point.

"Yup. Saki Osamu and Kishi, then Akiyama Eiji. They're entering the exams this year too." She replied. Kazuya beamed.

"Really? That's great! I'd be happy to meet them sometime!" He exclaimed. Ruriko glanced at him out the corner of her eye before huffing and looking back into her bowl as Akira smiled, cocking his head from side to side good-naturedly.

"Ne, cool! Hopefully Kotori-sensei's team is nicer than that Amegakure one. It'd be nice to make friends from another village." He stated. Ruriko finished licking her bowl clean, setting it down and resting her elbows on the counter, folding her hands together and resting her cheek on them sideways to give Akira a disgusted look.

"You're such a freak sometimes." She muttered. Nero nodded in agreement, wiping his mouth on the back of his hand, shoving his half eaten bowl of ramen at Ruriko, whose eyes twinkled as she snatched the bowl and dug her chopsticks into the mass of noodles.

"Don't make friends with people you might have to fight. It'll make you weaker." He retorted. Akira pouted, then whined.

"Heyyy, are you saying I'm weak?" He complained. Nero sweat dropped.

"Akira, don't make that kind of face or I'll grab your bowl and shove your face in it." He answered in a casual voice that made Akira twitch and flail rather comically as Ruriko licked the ramen juice off her lips, turning in her seat and leaning back on the counter, looking at Kazuya, who was laughing as Kotori grinned.

"Ne, sensei, we're gonna go train! Catch ya later!" She waved and hopped off her seat with Akira and Nero sharing quick looks before hopping off their stools and moving after her, leaving Kazuya to blink in surprise at the thought of Ruriko training willingly.

"That was a lie, wasn't it?" Akira asked with a pout as he followed Ruriko quickly down the street. Ruriko smirked and stuck her tongue out, making a face. Nero sighed.

"Well, isn't that cute? He can't tell when Ruriko's lying, but he can tell when I'm lying? I sense some bias in sensei's logic."

"I think Ruriko just moved too fast is all." Akira offered and Nero snorted indigenously, shaking his head, then looking up as Ruriko walked right into a trio of shinobi that was coming down the street. Akira yelped and winced in surprise, grabbing Ruriko's arm and pulling her back. Nero jumped, his eyes widening.

"I'm sorry, are you all right?" The man said with a smile, tilting his head as he reached a hand out to Ruriko, who stared at him before nodding, then putting a hand on her hip, pointing her finger toward him.

"Yea, sure, sir, but you should watch where you're going." She responded smartly.

"Ruriko," Akira scolded, then clamped a hand over Ruriko's mouth, making her flail a little with an annoyed expression on her face, "I'm sorry, sir. I mean, uhm, we're sorry!"

"It's perfectly fine. As she's stated, it is my fault for not looking out for you three." The man mused, his smoky eyes watching them closely. Akira blinked, staring up at the man as he held Ruriko close to him, still covering her mouth as she squirmed.

_That's, like, super creepy… Something about the way he looks… It's so familiar…_ He thought quizzically as he couldn't help but stare with wide, curious eyes. Ruriko merely ignored the staring adults to squirm away from her brother. The man smirked.

"We need to go." Nero heard himself saying, grabbing Ruriko's arm as soon as she got free of Akira's grasp. Ruriko blinked and looked at him in confusion, but Nero was already giving her arm a pull, but a strong grip caught the back of his cloak, making him gasp. Ruriko even emitted a small squeak of surprise, whipping around in time to see the second man with the trio pull Nero close.

"Ohh! Aren't you cute!" He exclaimed while beaming accompanied with an eerie, hyena-like laugh. Akira stiffened and Ruriko clenched a fist as the man seemed to paw in a cat-like manner at Nero's sleeve as he basically held onto him.

"You're so cute! Botan really likes pets like you~" He crooned and Nero gave a small gasp of surprise as Botan leaned down to cuddle closer, but the first man grabbed Botan's arm, giving it a sharp tug and making Botan yip like a kicked puppy, immediately releasing his hold on Nero, who stumbled forward and almost lost his balance if Ruriko hadn't of caught him.

"Botan, don't hassle the children… You'll cause a scene." He scolded in a dangerously calm tone, turning his smoky eyes back to the three Genin. Ruriko glared.

"What the hell is your problem, huh?" She demanded. The man smiled warmly, however, making Ruriko give him a weird look.

"I apologize for my teammate's behavior. He tends to be a bit too friendly… My name is Daiki, by the way. This is Botan and Miyuki. We're here for the Chuunin Exams, well, to view them." He explained casually. Ruriko frowned, then blinked and looked at Nero, who was still staring at Botan, who seemed to take on a rather whipped-dog appearance with his sleeves drawn up near his chin, however, the occasional hungry gaze of those piercing snow-white eyes were driving Nero crazy. It was obvious by the way tiny tremors seemed to course through his body.

"Uhm, we should probably go…" Ruriko mumbled, giving Nero's arm a little shake to bring him back to reality. Nero blinked and looked at her, his distress obvious by the strained look. Ruriko nodded and glanced over her shoulder after turning away from the group.

"See you later." Daiki smiled.

"Yup, bye!" Ruriko bolted with Nero's arm linked with hers and Akira rushing on Nero's other side. Daiki watched them go as his smile seemed to melt off his face, his expression slowly becoming darker and darker. Miyuki's lips tipped into a disappointed frown and Botan cringed, averting his eyes, then yelped as Daiki grabbed the back of his neck.

"Didn't I tell you to contain yourself, you damned animal?" He snarled in a low voice, making Botan whimper pitifully, his hands having reached around and clasping over Daiki's in an attempt to free himself. Daiki narrowed his eyes, then gave Botan a little shove, releasing him and looking back down the street to see the trio vanishing in the afternoon crowds.

"Hnn… Well, now that we've identified the targets, you two know what to do and I should hope you do your jobs correctly." He muttered gravely.

"Yes, sir." Miyuki and Botan murmured in unison.

**That Night…**

"All right," Kazuya smiled as he faced his Genin in the hallway of their motel, holding their room cards, "I had just enough money to get myself a room, Ruriko a room, and you two will have to share, but that shouldn't be a problem, right?" Akira beamed and Nero merely looked at his feet. Kazuya blinked, giving them a concerned look before forcing a smile and handing them each their cards.

Ruriko beamed as she headed toward her room, throwing up her arms in a stretch as Akira and Nero followed her, as their room was right across from hers.

"Ahh, finally! Now I can take a nice, long hot bubble bath~ I've been looking forward to this all day!" She exclaimed, then glanced out the corner of her eye to see Nero still looking at his feet. She tried not to show surprised she was that he made no perverted comment about how he wanted to join or anything of the sort. Akira grimaced.

"Ruriko, aren't you still freaked out? That guy basically molested Nero and that one, Daiki, he looks really familiar… In fact, his name is familiar too." He murmured thoughtfully, folding his arms over his chest tightly. Ruriko rolled her eyes, bringing her arms around behind her head, leaning back a bit.

"Oh, please. They were just a couple of old people… One of them just happened to be a pedophile and the other just happened to look like a criminal, so what?" She asked. Akira scowled.

"You can't possibly tell me you're not bothered by this." He demanded. Ruriko paused outside her door, lowering her arms and averting her eyes with a serious, obviously bothered look on her face.

"Of course it's unnerving," She muttered, making Akira look at her in confusion while Nero glanced up, "It was totally weird, but come on, we've run into weirder characters before. Just forget about it. It's a hassle to worry about something so stupid." She unlocked her door and walked in, slamming it shut behind her. Nero and Akira shared frowns before heading into their room.

As the team got settled in, they went off doing their own thing for the rest of the night; Kazuya heading out with some old friends, Ruriko bathing, Akira going for dinner, and Nero sitting in his room with his thoughts.

_That was completely unnatural! It felt so weird. You don't go hugging random strangers like that… And… Maybe I was imagining things, but when I looked up at him, past his hood… I could've sworn I saw- No, no way. I'm just seeing things. He's just some freakish clown._ He thought and buried his face in his hands as he sat on his bed with his legs folded.

_CRACK!_

Nero jumped and jerked his head up toward the window, staring as a crack began to grow across the window with an evident mark through the center. He frowned and slowly slid off the bed, reaching under his pillow for his kunai. He withdrew it, holding it in front of himself as he inched toward the window, eyes narrowed. He stopped, his eyes widening.

_Whoa._

It was obvious a rock had hit the window, causing the crack that had slowed its path in a spidery formation across the window. Nero lowered his kunai and peered out and over the small balcony before he opened the panes and peeked out, holding up his kunai again.

_Weird…_ He thought, although, his heart was still pounding wildly in his ribcage.

On the roof above, a thumb was bitten into, drawing blood and hand signs were being made. A hand touched the rooftop shingles and smoke puffed into the air, billowing away to reveal a small white egg about the size of the tip of a pin. The egg was flicked off the shingles and swirled through the air, sailing down, down, down until it hit the blade of the kunai below.

The egg shuttered, but remained unharmed as it stuck to the blade.

Nero scanned the trees outside the balcony, turned, glanced up at the rooftop, but only saw the moon glaring down at him almost critically. He winced and went inside, closing the windows behind him, averting his eyes.

He walked over to the bed and flopped down, placing the kunai beside his pillow, but refusing to let go of the handle as he closed his eyes and fell asleep at long last.

****

**A/N: Ladies and Gentlemen, boys and girls! Welcome to the rewritten version of Shadows of Heroes, under a different name, of course, as well :D! Same characters as last time, only improved as well as the plotline and more O:! Of course, if you have submitted Ocs for Shadows of Heroes, they are also taken into account on this, unless you have improved/changed those Ocs as well! There are more characters to be shown, so prepare! Well, I believe that is all! Thank you very much for reading, hope the characters are in check, and your reviews are greatly appreciated!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Welcome to Chapter Twooooo O:!**

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO! MASASHI KISHIMOTO DOES! I also do not own any of the OCs, except:**

**The Tsukuyomi Clan**

**Nero**

**Hajin**

**Ayano**

**Zoki**

**A/N: I was about to put a warnings sign here…. ;D**

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Chapter Two: **Chuunin Selection Examinations! Rotten Luck.**

"All right," Akira declared, thrusting a finger in the air, his other hand on his hip as he glanced at his teammates, who both yawned sleepily, "We can't waste anymore time! The Chuunin Exams officially start in two days, and since Kazuya wants us to rest the day before, we're going to train our butts off today!" Nero stifled another yawn, reaching up and rubbing his watery eye, slumping a little. He didn't even bother with a pervy joke as Ruriko's head tilted onto his shoulder, her eyelids hanging near closing.

"Akira, it's five thirty in the morning…There's no way we're in any shape for training if we can hardly keep ourselves upright." He mumbled drowsily, almost stumbling only to have Ruriko grab his arm and give it a tug before she dropped her head back onto his shoulder. Nero shook his head to get his bearings. Akira pouted, folding his arms over his chest and facing them as he tapped a foot.

"I don't care what time it is! It's your faults for staying up! Besides, five hours is plenty of sleep, now come on! Let's do _something_!" He insisted stubbornly. Nero felt his eye twitch, whether with lack of sleep or annoyance, he couldn't tell. Ruriko growled low in her throat and pushed off Nero's shoulder, nodding.

"Akira's right and I know just what I want to do." She stated. Akira looked at her curiously.

"What?"

"GO BACK TO BED." Ruriko deadpanned, her face completely straight like a brick, making Akira flail his arms to keep from falling backwards in despair. Nero stood up straight, stretching his arms over his head and yawning widely now.

"Oooh, forget it, Akira. We'll train later tonight… We're not morning people like you and Happy-sensei." He responded as he made a spreading gesture with his hands, a picture of their sensei basically bubbling up above his head. Akira sweat dropped, hunched over with defeat before he perked up with an idea, beaming innocently with a small smile as he pointed beside Ruriko at the dew-coated grass of the training field.

"Did I mention that there's a type of spider that likes to come out this time of day and cling to anything that happens to be moving through the grass?" He asked. As soon as the word 'spider' left his mouth, Ruriko's eyes were wide with horror as she almost leapt ten feet in the air with a high yelp before she grabbed onto Nero, making him gasp and flail to catch his balance.

"SPIDER? Oh my god, I hate you, Akira! I hate spiders!" She yelled, looking worriedly down at the grass as Nero groaned, squeezing his eyes shut as he tried to regain the hearing lost due to Ruriko's screaming in his ear. Akira waited, watching with the same smug look on his face as Nero finally caught his balance.

"Ruriko, he's bullshitting you! Jeez, calm down. There's no spider like that." Nero snapped, brushing himself off as Ruriko took a step back with a nervous sweat drop, twiddling her fingers. Nero folded his arms over his chest, averting his eyes before Ruriko twitched and whipped around to shove a fist in Akira's face.

"You're such a jerk! I swear, I'm going to throw you in a river!" She shouted angrily, flailing a fist around while the other kept shoving against Akira's nose. Akira laughed nervously, waving his hands in surrender.

"At least you're awake now, right?" He cried. Ruriko glared at him some more before leaning back, huffing as she put her fists on her hips, turning her head the other way stubbornly. Nero looked at Akira flatly.

"Well, all right, whatever. You have our attention. So now what did you have in mind for training?" He asked dully. Akira beamed and reached into his pocket, taking out a map, making Nero frown and Ruriko cock a brow as she glanced out the corner of her eye.

"What the hell is that for?" She asked, poking the map, still keeping a fist on her hip as Akira gave the map a little wave, a grin still on his face.

"This is a map of Konohagakure! I've hidden something for both of you guys, things that you'll really need to get back, but you have to find out what it is yourself. Kazuya did the same for me, so I have to go look for it on my own. We'll have to split up too. If you finds the thing that you're missing, you win and get to take the rest of the day off. Can't find it and you're screwed." He explained simply. Nero blinked.

"You came up with that?" He asked. Akira nodded confidently, beaming in Nero's face.

"Sure did! You guys are timed, by the way. You have to find the item by dinner time tonight or you lose. I got a map for each of us too, since we're new to this place. I basically gave you a big hint too." He added as he pulled two more maps from his weapons pouch, handing them to both his teammates, who looked down at the maps, then at each other.

"Ready, set, go!" Akira announced and shot off with what sounded like a very pleased giggle. Ruriko twitched and glared after her brother, clenching the map in her fist.

"What the heck? This place is too…! Oh, never mind," She sighed and looked at Nero, who folded the map and stuffed it into his pocket, "We have to find something we're missing? Like what?" Nero dug around in his pocket, shrugging.

"Heck if I know, probably- Shit." He cursed and turned his pockets inside out, patting himself down. Ruriko raised an eyebrow.

"What?" She asked. Nero scowled darkly, standing up straight.

"Tch, I figured out what I'm missing."

"What's that?"

"My lighter."

"Oh, for the love of gods." Ruriko muttered, then reached into her weapons pouch, but she found that nothing was missing. Curiously, she dug into her kunai holster, but the twin kunai were still inside. She glanced at Nero, who was still patting at his pockets with an unlit cigarette hanging out of his mouth.

"I can't tell what I'm missing." She huffed, folding her arms over her chest. Nero glanced at her, then gave up on his search for his lighter in his clothes and took the cigarette from his mouth, sticking it back into the box before shoving it into his pocket.

"Maybe it's something back in your room? I don't know, but you're gonna have to look for it yourself. I need a smoke and I need a smoke now… And I need that lighter back, it's not mine."

"Who's is it's?"

"… I ripped it off my aunt before I left."

"Nero! Do you have a death wish?" Ruriko demanded angrily as Nero shrugged, waving a hand at her to calm down.

"So what? She'd probably still smack me around anyway. I could make her dinner and clean the apartment and she'd still throw a hissy fit about something. Anyway, just keep looking. I'll meet you back at the hotel around lunch time. Good luck trying to find whatever you're missing." Nero muttered and turned, heading off toward the town.

Ruriko watched him go and groaned, slumping over rather dramatically before she perked back up, scanning the map. She narrowed her eyes in frustration as the map wasn't all that easy to read.

Akira's ability to draw was atrocious! The streets were drawn with what looked like a blue highlighter, the alleys with yellow highlighter, and the buildings drawn with crayons as well as a trio of stick figures at the top, a little heart drawn by Akira's name.

_What a child._ Ruriko thought with a snort as she crumpled the map and shoved it into her weapons pouch. She turned and shot off, kicking up dirt as she bolted into the village, jumping off the ground again to land on a rooftop. She took this way to the apartment, walking inside and avoiding the creepy old man at the counter, who was smoking heavily on a pipe.

She made her way to her room, pausing as Kazuya seemed to step out of his room with a smile, humming about something. She turned to face him partially halfway down the hallway.

"Oi, Kazuya!" She yelled. Kazuya jumped a little and pressed a finger to his lips.

"Ruriko, it's still too early to be shouting." He shushed, walking over. Ruriko merely rolled her eyes and folded her arms over her chest, looking up at her brother past her dark hair.

"What the hell am I supposed to be looking for?" She asked. Kazuya smiled.

"Can't tell you. A true ninja must learn things on their own sometimes. This is a solo mission."

"But, that's unfair-"

"No," Kazuya interrupted, holding up a finger matter-of-factly, "If this was a real solo mission, you wouldn't have anyone to help you. Pretend you're doing a job for Hioshi, if it helps. What would Hioshi want you to search for? Once you figure out the object, think of all the places where you'd find it."

"But, Hioshi would know where the-"

"No, Hioshi doesn't know everything, Ruriko." Kazuya pointed out. Ruriko puffed out her cheek in a pout, averting her eyes.

"Yea huh." She mumbled. Kazuya merely smiled and patted her on the head before turning and giving a little wave.

"Good luck! See ya at dinner tonight!" He called and walked on down the hallway, Ruriko watching him leave with a scowl before she whipped around and stomped to her room. She threw open her door and slammed it shut behind her, scanning the room closely. She folded an arm over her chest, taking her chin between her thumb and forefinger as she moved her eyes from left to right, up and down.

_An object that I'm missing… Something Hioshi would want me to search for. That doesn't make any sense. Hioshi doesn't really take material objects into consideration… The only thing I've seen him baby was his records, but I don't have any records with me._ She thought and walked over to her bed, looking down at it.

_What would Akira and Kazuya know of to take from me? Something important… Important so that Hioshi would want me to lose it… Did he give me something to take with me and I don't remember? Wait… Records. Hioshi always kept track of his records; based on missions, how his day went. Like a journal… Shit, my journal!_ Ruriko realized and dropped to her knees, giving the mattress a push, but there was nothing underneath, making her wince.

She scrambled to her feet and ran to the window, throwing the panes open and jumping up onto the railing of the balcony. She pushed off and shot out the window, landing on a nearby roof. She stood up and scanned around, her lavender eyes flashing.

_That moron! He could've taken something less important! Ugh, no, no. I have to calm down. He wants me to get worked up so I can be panicky, frantic to find it. Lose track of time, lose, and have my journal gone forever. I need to stop and think. Kazuya told me that the object could be hidden where you'd normally find something like it… A bookstore, maybe? But, Akira didn't label any of those stupid buildings on his dumb map! How am I supposed to find my journal on a map that looked like a two-year-old drew it?_ She thought angrily, then sucked in a deep breath and let it out before hopping off the roof into an alley. She walked out into the bustling street, looking around.

People were walking or crowded into groups, some laughing and chatting away without a care in the world. Shops lined the streets as well as some carts selling trinkets, food, and drinks. Some people seemed to be setting up for the exams, tying lanterns outside their doors and windows, putting up sale signs in their displays. It seemed like an average place, just a bit too crowded.

Ruriko started to walk down the street, looking left and right for some kind of bookstore in hopes of hurrying this idiotic training lesson. She turned a corner to a less populated street where a large billboard was advertising barbeque chips. She stopped to look up at it with a frown, then blinked as she heard an odd bell ring behind her. She turned and jumped a little to see a bookstore sitting across the street, although, the books on display didn't look all that great.

Ruriko walked up to the window, peering inside before heading to the door, walking in and wincing at the annoying bell that rang as she came inside. It was quiet and warm, rather cozy with multiple shelves of books and magazines. Ruriko started forward, peeking down an aisle, then another, and another before she groaned in distress.

"I can't go looking through all those books!" She cried in exasperation, dropping her head into her hands.

"Ssh!" Came a voice from behind her and she yelped, whirling around to see a boy standing behind her with a book in his hands. His pale blonde hair was tied in a low ponytail and his eyes a pale gray to match. He wore an ocean blue kimono-like top with the right sleeve torn off and the golden imprint of an eel etched across the front of said top, matching a bracelet of fish teeth on his right arm. Seashells went around his neck while his headband was tied around his waist above black Capri pants matching his ninja shoes.

"Sorry." Ruriko muttered. The boy shrugged, closing his book before smirking a little.

"Hey, you're from Sunagakure. You're here for the exams, I take it?"

"Uh, yea. Name's Ruriko."

"Sora. So what're you doing in a bookstore two days before an exam?"

"My stupid teammate tricked me and stole something of mine as a training exercise. I can only guess its in here." Ruriko explained. Sora blinked, then smirked.

"Let me guess, he stole your diary?"

"… Sadly."

"All right, well, good luck on finding it then."

"Hey! You're not gonna offer to help?" Ruriko demanded, putting a fist on her hip. Sora sweat dropped, taking a small step back and waving a hand as if in surrender.

"Well, no. It's an exercise to help you become a better ninja. You have to do it on your own, sorry."

"Well, jeez, you're not help." Ruriko muttered.

"If you want a hint, I can tell you right now that your journal isn't where you'd expect it to be, probably. If your teammate is clever like that."

"Huh? But… Why would you put it somewhere-"

"Less obvious." Sora replied. Ruriko twitched and clenched a fist.

"I swear I'm going to kill him when I get my hands on him." She growled. Sora shifted a little uncomfortably away from her, giving a nervous laugh.

"Aha, so anyway, good luck!" He waved and went off down the aisle. Ruriko watched him go, then groaned and slumped again, placing a hand on her forehead in frustration as she closed her eyes tightly.

_Just when I thought things couldn't get any worse. Okay, well, where's the least obvious place to find a journal? There's way too many places to think of! And this village is huge, this could take all day and I've already spent an hour searching this far!_ She thought in aggravation, then whipped around and stormed out of the bookstore, carelessly slamming the door shut behind her.

She headed out of the street and into the main one, most people bustling on by. Ruriko watched them go by, her fists clenched tightly at her sides. She stepped out and headed down the street, her eyes scanning sharply from side to side and up ahead. She rounded a corner and headed back to the hotel, wanting so badly to punch something. With that thought in mind, she changed course to the training fields. As soon as her shoes were on the grass, she was weaving hand signs and thrusting her right hand out, her fingers tense as electricity sparked at her fingertips and exploded forward in a thick stream.

The jagged blue bolt crashed into the ground, sending rocks and rubble blasting through the air in a cloud of dust. Ruriko crouched low and pushed up off the ground, whirling around and kicking her foot into a flying chunk of rubble, sending it exploding into pieces before she hit the ground again. She stood up and cracked her knuckles.

"If only that had been Akira's face." She muttered to herself, then threw her hands back down at her sides, closing her eyes and huffing stubbornly. She waited a moment for the blood boiling in her veins to settle before she heard the sound of hands clapping heavily, making her blink and whip around, a kunai flying from her holster and into her grasp.

Standing across the field from her was the Amegakure boy, Hajin, his arms folded over his bare chest now. A wide smirk was spread across his face, those bright eyes of his narrowed in amusement.

"Somebody's in a bad mood." He taunted. Ruriko glared.

"You came at a really bad time."

"Personally, I think it's a good time. I get to see your talents before the exams." He stated, sticking his nose in the air confidently. Ruriko scowled and took a step forward, but a voice in her head made her halt immediately, her eyes widening slightly.

"_Don't be an idiot, Ruriko! Jeez, you're starting to remind me of Akira. You don't go around flaunting your abilities unless you want people to defeat you." Hioshi scowled, his arms folded over his chest as he sat in his leather chair, his knees drawn up. Ruriko stood across from him, blinking and panting for air as she clenched her fists. She gritted her teeth._

"_Why the hell not? They should know that they have no chance!"_

"_Tch," Hioshi closed his eyes and snorted, "Yea, sure. Show your enemy's what you can do so they can find the faults in your attacks."_

"_What are you talking about? I don't have any-"_

"_Everyone has faults, baby sister. For example, that lightening bolt technique that you favor so much? A) You use it way too often so people will easily know what to expect and hinder it. B) It takes up a lot of your chakra and only causes damage to a single point. And C) The damage done to your physical-self is also dangerous because you can't control the bolt as well as some people of the Lightening element can, which in turn, causes your fingertips to burn. Think of it as putting your bare hand on a hot stove."_

Ruriko stood up straight, lowering her arms. Hajin's eyes flickered as he lowered his arms to his sides now, cocking his head.

"What? You're not going to fight me, doll face?" He mocked. Ruriko twitched and was tempted to throw the kunai and pray it hit him right in the mouth, but she kept hearing the list of flaws in her techniques, making her grit her teeth.

"Too bad, shorty. I don't show the extent of my abilities to those who aren't worth it." She retorted. Hajin blinked, then narrowed his eyes in obvious annoyance, his fists clenching.

"Tch, you're just saying that because you know you're going to lose."

"Put a sock in it, shrimp! You're just a cocky little rat!"

"Damn it, will you quit calling me that," Hajin barked, then smirked anyway, turning halfway around, "All right, doll face. If you think that way, I'll let you run off this once, but if we encounter each other in the exams, I'm not letting you off the hook. Of course, we can all evade this if you just go out on a date with me." He added at the end with a wicked grin. Ruriko twitched, feeling her cheeks warm up.

"Y-You little pervert! Jeez, buzz off! As if I would be caught dead going out with someone who walks around half nude and big enough to fit in the palm of my hand!"

"Fine, your choice." Hajin snorted and turned, heading off into the shadowed forest, vanishing from sight. Ruriko scowled and whirled around, throwing her kunai into a nearby tree. She huffed and folded her arms over her chest before glancing up at the sky, wincing.

_Damn it, it's already noon… I hope Nero's having better luck than I am._

**Meanwhile…**

_Well, shit. I've searched every drugstore around here, but there's not a single place that stupid lighter could be. That thing is about the size of my damn pinky finger! How am I supposed to find that in a village this big?_ Nero thought in aggravation as he walked down the street, his fists shoved into his pockets, one toying with his box of cigarettes.

He sighed rather miserably, pausing near a pastry shop before he heard familiar laughter and peered around the corner of a tapestry hanging near the shop.

Inside around a table, Kazuya was sitting with a few other Jounin. One could be easily recognized as Kotori, holding up a small flask of what could only be alcohol. The other female Jounin had thick black hair and pale lilac-white eyes, wearing an eggplant kimono styled shirt with a sleeve missing, a red lunar month embedded in the back, and a slightly form-fitting fishnet shirt underneath, matching navy pants and black sandals. The other Jounin had silvery hair styled to the right with a mask hiding half his face as well as his headband tilted over an eye, wearing a very Konoha Jounin-like uniform.

"Nero, what're you doing here?" Kazuya asked, catching sight of the Genin out the corner of his eye. Nero winced, then put on a bored expression as he stepped out.

"Looking for something. I thought you were doing something important." He muttered, looking pointedly at the Jounin. Kazuya laughed a little nervously, gesturing to the Jounin.

"This is important! I'm catching up some a few friends of mine. You've already met Kotori. This is Hatake Kakashi and Hitsuki Mayu, a couple of my other friends from the village." He explained. Kakashi merely nodded in greeting and Mayu beamed, tilting her head and giving a small wave. Nero nodded to both of them, then looked at Kazuya.

"Have you seen my lighter?" He asked. Kazuya sweat dropped.

"Nero-"

"Oi," Kotori declared, sitting up straight and putting a fist on her hip as she gestured to Nero with a pinky as she held her flask, "You're too young to be torturing those good lungs of yours! Lighter, snighter!" Kazuya sweat dropped. Nero shrugged.

"My lungs. Besides, I have to find it or else I lose the game." He muttered. Mayu blinked, looking at him curiously.

"What kind of game?" She asked. Nero sighed. Kazuya smiled.

"Akira came up with it. He told me to take three things from each person that they find important, hide them, and have them search for them. If they lose, they lose the item. If they win, they get the item back and the rest of the day off from training." He explained, making Mayu nod thoughtfully.

"Well, well. That's pretty motivational. A smart Genin you have there." She complimented with a smirk. Nero twitched and slumped a little.

"Smart my ass." He muttered, then yelped as Kazuya bopped him on the head whilst scowling in disapproval before he smiled at the Jounin.

"Anyway, he needs to do it on his own, so go along, Nero. Remember, you have until dinner time." He added. Nero groaned, but said nothing more as the Jounin shared looks before they continued their conversation. Nero headed down the street with a sigh.

_Well, jeez, they're not help at all… Tch, maybe I should just go back to the hotel and wait for Ruriko. I'll just give up or something…_ He thought as he walked by another drugstore, making him pause. He stared inside for a moment before his eyes widened.

…

_Jeez, price of cigarettes is going up._ He thought with a snort and started to continue on his way until he saw a small, torn ad stuck to the side of the window, catching his attention immediately as he stared at it. The ad was for a lighter at a somewhat expensive price; silver with an odd swirl and dotted design etched into the front.

Of course, he couldn't read the sentences, but the picture was unmistakable. Nero immediately tore the ad off and walked inside, his eyes searching around before they locked on the register where a tanned man was flopped forward, snoring and drooling onto a newspaper with a beanie cap sliding over his eyes.

"Excuse me." Nero slammed the ad down none too kindly onto the counter, causing the man to yelp and jump upright, drool running down his chin and his beanie cap hiding his eyes now. The man faced him, not pulling his cap up, but patting his chocolate hair so it stick up from under the cap and somewhat across his face.

"Ne, can I help you?" He asked sleepily, throwing his arms up in a stretch. Nero nodded and pushed the ad forward.

"This lighter, do you still have it in stock?" He asked. The man scratched his head and stooped, looking at the ad. Although, one would wonder how he could do this past the black beanie on his head, but Nero didn't bother to ask as the man hummed and nodded, leaning back as he picked up the ad.

"Yes, yes, I think we do. Costs about a thousand ryo, ya think you got that much, kid? … Kid, how old are you?" He asked, moving his face up and down as if scanning him. Nero glared at him.

"That's not the point, I'll pay you double if you hand me the lighter now. I promise I won't even say a word about it either." He bribed, but the man huffed, folding his arms over his chest, pointing at him.

"Oi, oi. You can't trick me. Go on, kid-"

"I'm not leaving until I get that lighter."

"Eh? Oi, you can't do that!"

"I can and I will."

"I'll throw you out!"

"I dare you." Nero muttered and stood his ground. The man shifted uncomfortably for a moment, then reached across the counter to grab the front of Nero's shirt, but a hand shot out and grabbed the man's wrist.

"Oi, what the…?" The man stopped as he faced the intruder. Nero's eyes widened immediately and he took a jolting step away from the counter. There was a light snicker as the hand pulled away, an aqua green sleeve falling over the outstretched hand.

"Ne, I'll buy the lighter from you, double." Botan stated with a wicked smirk, his white eyes narrowed almost dangerously. The cashier gulped and nodded, ducking behind the counter and opening a cupboard, taking out the lighter. Nero watched as Botan seemed to withdraw money from his sleeve, tossing it at the cashier, who yelped and threw the lighter at him to catch the money.

Botan turned and the deadly look immediately vanished from the man's face, replaced with a sweet and sugary smile as he stooped a bit to hand Nero the lighter. He cocked his head.

"Ne, Botan bought what you wanted. Can Nero give Botan what he wants?" He asked innocently. Nero leaned away from him, but found his back pressed against some shelves of cigarettes. Botan's smile seemed to grow a bit more eerie now, the corners twisting a bit as he held the lighter in Nero's face.

"What's wrong, Nero? Didn't you want the lighter?" He waved it in his face. Nero finally managed to move, snatching the lighter from Botan's hand and making a move to run for it, but Botan caught his wrist, jerking him back. Nero gasped and swung around, staring up into Botan's face as the man gripped both his wrists in his hands tightly, making the veins in his hands bulge with blood. Botan's eyes watched him so intensely it was making him uneasy.

"Give Botan what he wants and you can have the lighter."

"Th-Then what the hell do you want?" Nero managed to demand. Botan beamed and he gave his head a quirky tilt, tightening his grip on Nero's wrists.

"Cute, cute, you are Nero! It's so very good to listen to Botan… Yes, listen very carefully, carefully…" He mused and he seemed to be making some kind of purring sound in his throat, leaning forward and nuzzling Nero's ear. Nero cringed away and jerked at the man's grip, but found it inescapable, his eyes widening. Botan smirked and craned his neck, looking into those aqua green eyes across from him.

"Botan wants Daiki happy. If Daiki's happy, Botan's safe. If Botan's safe, he is happy, ne?" He asked. Nero just nodded, still staring at him and mentally cursing the cashier, who had ducked behind the counter with the cash. Botan grinned.

"Yes. Very good. Ah, but how to make Daiki happy, yes? Maybe if Daiki can get his hands on the one who killed his baby sister. Baby sister Kishiko… She was such a pretty and nice baby sister, but not anymore… It makes Daiki very angry," Botan's voice seemed to crack now and he winced, tugging Nero a bit closer and making the Genin gasp in surprise, "Botan doesn't like it when Daiki's angry. When Daiki's angry, he hurt Botan and Botan doesn't like to be hurt. Not at all… So all Nero has to do is give Botan the killer to give to Daiki and Daiki will be happy. No more pain… Yes, of course, Botan also wants something for himself." His white eyes locked with Nero's.

Nero gasped and squeezed his eyes shut, jerking his wrists harshly from Botan's at long last. He whirled around and bolted from the drugstore, stumbling and almost tripping on his face as he ran out. Botan watched him go, his eyes slightly narrowed before he licked his lips, showing off a nice pair of sharp canines dripping with saliva as he smirked.

"Such a cute pet…"

Meanwhile, Nero bolted down the street, breathing heavily as he shoved the lighter into his cloak pocket, his eyes still wide as he tried to erase the image of Botan getting in his face from his mind.

_The hell! That was so freaking creepy! That guy is psychotic! And what's he talking about? Who the hell is Kishiko…? It sounds familiar, but I can't think of it right now! Is that why those guys are here? To find whoever killed that Kishiko person?_ He wondered as he rounded a corner and paused to stoop over, panting for air as he leaned on the wooden fencing along the street. He stood up and fished out the lighter, hurriedly pulling out a cigarette and placing it between his lips. He struck the lighter and the small flame lit up brightly. He held it to the end of his cigarette before clapping the lighter shut, shoving it into his pocket. He stood there and smoked for a while before flicking the ash to the ground. He went to toss the butt of his cigarette, but stopped, staring with wide eyes at his wrists.

He flicked the cigarette to the ground and pushed the cuff link around his left wrist, revealing a deep, angry red and black bruise going all around. He looked at his right and tore the bandages off, wincing. The same bruise was growing there too. He looked down at his wrists, grimacing before he shoved his hands into his pockets and headed back to the motel in time to see Ruriko, who was sitting with her back against the building and her knees drawn up, arms resting on them.

Ruriko glanced up, then blinked at the sight of him and scrambled to her feet, clasping her hands behind her back and sticking her nose in the air a bit with a crooked frown before she reached a hand up to wave it in her face.

"Judging by that reeking stench, you found your lighter." She muttered to him dryly, making Nero roll his eyes. He reached into his pocket and took out the lighter, showing her.

"It's not mine, but it looks exactly like the original. A ninja should be good at deceiving, especially someone as dim as Akira." He retorted. Ruriko scowled, then blinked, her eyes widening as she caught sight of the bruises on Nero's wrists.

"W-Whoa, where'd you get those from?" She asked uneasily. Nero averted his eyes, shoving his hands back into his pockets to hide them.

"I ran into trouble. Did you find what you were missing?"

"Huh? What-"

"Did you find what you were missing?" Nero repeated. Ruriko frowned, glaring at him for a while before she huffed, turning her face the other way.

"Tch! Sure, I did, but I have no idea where to find it, so bleh!" She turned and closed her eyes, sticking her tongue out at Nero, who raised an eyebrow, unable to hide the amused smirk on his face.

"Well, I guess that means you have to keep looking around then." He answered and turned to head inside, but winced when he felt a powerful grip on the back of his cloak, one that made him reel backwards a few steps until he was looking into Ruriko's angry lavender eyes.

"Oiii, where do you think you're goin'? You're gonna help me find my diary!"

"Huh? But you're supposed to do it on your own-"

"Bull! You're helping me because if you don't, I'll kill you!"

"You suck at convincing, try a less violent incentive." Nero answered, shoving Ruriko off him and brushing himself off. Ruriko twitched angrily, clenching a fist.

"Fine, I'll give you one rule free wish if you help me find my stupid journal!" She snapped. Nero's eyes flickered, glancing at her curiously as he folded his arms over his chest.

"Rule free wish?" He asked. Ruriko nodded, still glaring, though, as the entire situation was giving her a headache. She put her hands on her hips before pointing a finger into Nero's face.

"Exactly, so now are you motivated, you jackass?"

"Where should we look first?"

"Excellent."

****

**A/N: Sorry it took so long to post this (: I'm still waiting for a few confirmations and stuff as well as some better ideas for a Chuunin Exam, but I'm telling you right now, that there will be a final round. Don't worry, by the way, the exams are coming up quickly, maybe in the next chapter, even O:! Well, I think that's about it! Thanks for reading, hope the characters are in check, and your reviews are greatly appreciated!**


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